After
a fairly easy flight from Melbourne Australia, in the Qantas sardine
section, the last row (88) so I suppose you could say we had a longer
ride. We arrived in LA at 6.50am on Friday 5th Aug. What with
customs and a bit of a wait for the Disneyland Express, we were settled
in at the RV park by 10.30. Time to do some stocking up of supplies and
make sure all was ready for the road for the next day.
Saturday
we headed to Palm Springs a resort area on the edge of the desert,
noted for its health retreats for the rich & famous. The surprise
before we got there was the massive amount of wind turbines that adorned
the hills and flat land in the valley, literally thousands of them. It
almost looked as if they were touching the next one, they were so
close, row after row of them.
We
headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway which takes you to the top of
the mountain, it is also used as the access to the Mount San Jacinto State Park at the
top which is a favourite spot for Telemark Skiing during the snow
season. From the top you got a better appreciation of the surrounding
area and the spread of the wind turbines below, it would be interesting
to know how much power is generated in the area.
Palm Springs itself seemed a bit clinical, all well laid out with a lot of gated communities as well as health resorts. See Photos
Joshua Tree National Park.
We
headed around to Joshua Tree so we enter the Joshua Tree National Park
from the east and work our way down. The park is another example of
variety in the National Parks in the USA, Whilst it is a desert, it is
completely different to the others that we have visited and it has many
different sections within the park, The top section is full of Joshua
Trees and smooth rounded boulders, we found an excellent RV campsite in
the “Jumbo Rocks” Camping area. The next day as we headed west though
the park the Joshua Trees disappeared and the general geology of the
park changed completely, different areas seemed to have large pockets of
varying sorts of cactus. At one area we were looking at the site of an
inland sea back in pre history times. Cottonwood Spring , being a rare
supply of fresh water, was used as an oasis for the local Indians and
as well the cowboys traveling through. Another value in traveling east
to west through the park is that it is mainly downhill all the way.
After
leaving the park we joined Highway 10 which we would be using as our
main direction across the states, but leaving it for periods allows you
to relax with the driving and see more of the countryside. We passed by
the General Patton Museum at Chiriaco and moved on to Quartzsite. See Photos
Quartzsite.
A
small town just over the border in Arizona, which has become a
Rockhound’s Paradise for the past 50 years. The town is inundated with
RVers escaping the cold winters in the north of the USA, some 2000
vendors of gems, rocks, minerals, fossils etc converge on the town to
trade with the million visitors that arrive in their RVs, mainly during
January and February. Being August when we arrived, the town was like a
ghost town, dozens of RV parks closed down just waiting for it to start
again next year, It reminded us of Skagway in Alaska where they had to
make their money in 4 months then desert the town until the next season
starts. We did manage to find an RV park operating and very nice it was
too. We have set ourselves the need to check into RV parks more often
on this trip, as we are still in the hot period. So the power for the
air conditioner will be our little bit of luxury. The odd spar or pool
might not go unused either for that matter.
We
turned off the highway 10 to head towards Wickenburg and the near by
ghost town of Vulture City. Along the road as soon as we left the
Highway 10 we started to notice RV parks dotted all along the road
through the desert, we could not work out how they survived, they all
looked in limbo and a lot of RVs in storage, but it still wasn’t making
any sense. We later find that these are for the “Snow Birds” mainly
retirees from the northern states, who travel to the area to escape the
severe winters of the north, what on earth they could find to do in the
middle of the desert is beyond us, there was no obvious activity
available. On through a town called “hope” with it’s “Little Church Of
Hope” a short distance further along was a sign “You are now beyond
Hope”. Wickenburg was a very impressive town, all neat and well
groomed, Vulture City gold Mine was another story, hot, dusty, and of
course all fallen into heaps of rubble, but interesting.
See Photos
Carefree, Fountain Hills & Phoenix
From
Wickenburg we moved on to Carefree, a town some 25miles north of
Phoenix the state’s capital. Carefree boasts the USA’s largest sundial,
the arm is 62 ft long and points to the North Star.
Whilst
the Sundial was impressive with it’s very manicured desert cactus
surround, so to was the town, or suburb of Carefree, the whole area
seemed newly developed with it’s Mexican flat roofed houses all of
earthy tones and nature strips, front yards all being beautifully laid
out with varieties of cactus as the mail ingredient and pebble rather
than grass as the ground cover. We know the sundial was built in 1959,
so the whole area must have had major makeovers during the past 52
years. We later moved on to Fountain Hills, which unsurprisingly has as
it’s town feature, one of the tallest fountains in the world, It has
been in operation since 1970 and the water can reach a height of 562 ft,
although for most days it is limited to 330 ft, still impressive, each
year on St Patrick’s Day the water is dyed green. Like Carefree,
Fountain Hills seemed very up market with the same care and attention to
the nature strips both side and centre, and the same impressive quality
of housing. If people are doing it tough over here, it doesn’t show in
this part of Arizona. We were to find out later that those two areas are
the top shelf spots around Phoenix. We stayed at an RV Park in Tempe, a
suburb of Phoenix, a light rail “Metro” system outside the front gate
was convenient, cheap, clean and gave that same feeling of pride on the
city that we have gathered from the other towns that we have so far
visited in Arizona, The freeways are uncluttered, general wide streets.
No such thing as peak hour congestion. You would have to say that this
would be a place you could adopt, but only so long vas you could take
the 5 months a year of 100 degree heat. See Photos
The Apache Trail
We
moved on through Apache Junction and took the scenic Apache trail, past
Mt Superstition and the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, which apparently isn’t
lost any more. after running out of bitumen and winding our way through
20miles of unmade (7-10mph) corrugated road with incredible scenery, we
set up camp in the Apache Lake Resort, again “a room with a view”. And
to top it off and make us feel at home, we were nestled in under a gum
tree.
Both
of our cameras have been working overtime, but so far, have not taken
the opportunity to view them. Next day we had another 12 grueling miles
of the same 7– 10 mph until we reached the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, and a
relief it was too. But for all of that, the scenery was worth it. See Photos
Tonto National Monument.
We
called in at the Tonto National Monument which features a series of
cliff dwellings constructed by the early Indians in the 1100 to 1300AD
era. A half mile hike up a 13% grade in 104 degrees of heat, what do
they say about mad dogs and Englishmen? The smart half of this duo sat
back in the air-conditioned lounge and waited for the photos to be
taken. See Photos
We
headed to Florence, a town boasting more heritage buildings than any
other in the state, they were a bit boring but we were confronted with a
town that seems to have become the home for a great lot of prisons,
They were all over the place, the mainstream state prisons, maximum
security, death row, women’s prisons juvenile justice centres, private
prisons, federal prisons, they even had prisoners there from Hawaii and
Alaska. To top that off as they are now a federal seat, they have the
Sherriff’s prison and the immigration detention centre. The locals
reckon it is a safe place to live, there is that much law enforcement
there.
On
our way to Tucson I had my childhood memories of Tom Mix all but
destroyed. All those trips to the local theatre to see Tom Mix tackle
the baddies during the 1948 -52 period and all the time he was an ex Tom
Mix, he had died in 1940, we came across a monument to him along the
way. See Photos
Tucson
We settled in at the Prince of Tucson RV Park for 2 or 3 nights.
A
drive around Tucson gave the same impression of respect and
appreciation for the amenities, the freeways are almost an art form,
with their decorative trims and colours, no such thing as plain old
concrete grey. Again, graffiti is at a minimum, don’t know if they have
the death penalty for graffiti artists, but what ever they are doing, it
works. See Photos
Pima Air Museum
Our
first day at Tucson we sheltered from the heat for a while, then took
off in the afternoon to see the Pima Air Museum, (Pima being the County
of Pima). The museum has a fantastic range of aircraft, including “Air
Force 1” the official plane for Presidents Kennedy and Johnston, so it
probably was the plane that flew Johnson to Australia, when he was given
the famous “All the way with LBJ” line. Unfortunately for Lorraine, as
we were there in the afternoon, we had missed all of the transported
tours, so we had to leg it. Damned hot it was too. See Photos
Old Tucson Studios
The
following day we set ourselves the task of “The old Tucson Studios” and
the “Desert Museum” We were first at the gate for Old Tucson. There
were hundreds of western movies shot here since 1939, when it was built
for the filming of “Arizona” It has been turned into a theme park /movie
set, as there are still some movies done here as well as commercials,
but of course the Western is no longer the flavour for movies or TV,
The list of stars that have plied their craft here, includes Russell
Crow and Paul Hogan. A real memory lane trip. They had some stunt shows
and dance hall stuff going on, but not to the Disneyland standard. See Photos
Desert Museum
On
to the Desert Museum which is only 3 -4 miles away from Old Tucson, we
were advised that as it was Saturday they had an evening session with
extra features, the cooler evening sounded good, which is another reason
we tacked it on the same day. The museum was a cross between a zoo and a
botanic garden, there were snakes, mountain lions, bear, humming birds
among the other birds and of course cactus, all sorts of cactus, it
seems that Arizona is the cactus state, their emblem is the Saquaro
Cactus, (pronounced Swaro) it is a huge cactus but only grows 1 inch per
year, takes between 50 to 75 years before it will grow arms, (had a
photo with the last emailing) many never grow arms. Our day was pretty
full 9 ‘til 9 so we were both pretty knocked out by the time we got back
to the bus. Lorraine’s walking really stood up to it. But we did take
plenty of opportunities to grab a seat in the air-conditioned theatres.
Still we were to give it another nudge the next day.
On
heading out of Tucson we got back on the freeway system and headed
across town to the “Colossal Caves”, about 2mile to the east, The caves
were dry, so there was no slippery bits for Lorraine to encounter, other
than the 352 steps through the cave, so it was quite a challenge. Don’t
think we will tackle another cave for a while though. See Photos
San Xavier Mission
We
moved on to the San Xavier Mission, just south of Tucson, the mission
was built in the 1700s and is apparently the only one of it’s kind that
did not get burnt down, it has operated as an active church to the local
Indians continuously. There is a massive restoring exercise going on,
to the point where experts from the Sistine Chapel in Rome have been
bought in to advise the restoration team. The team is headed up by an
expert from the Guggenheim Museum, and an army of experts from Italy,
France, Spain, Mexico, etc are all pulling together to restore the
mission to it’s original state.
We
checked out some genuine Indian “Fry Bread” from a stall outside the
mission, I had read about it and had downloaded some recipes but after
looking at the size of all of the Indians behind the stall, decided to
only buy one to share and give a try. It was very nice. See Photos
Tombstone
We
moved down to Nogales on the Mexican border, it was all pretty grotty
so we kept pushing along to Tombstone. Well we were quite surprised to
find the town is very much alive, they have an authentic “Shootout at
the OK Coral” each day at 2.00 which is the time of the actual gunfight,
a repeat is run at 4.00 (but that is a copy, not the real time). We
booked in to the Wells Fargo RV Park which is right in the centre of
town and almost next door to the OK Coral, so we can walk every where
and will stay a couple of nights. Fronted up to the Longhorn Bar for a
very nice steak dinner tonight.
Spent
a day doing the town, The trolley bus first, which showed us all the
places of interest and the driver gave us a running commentary of the
issues which made the town famous. The town was founded by a Ed
Schieffelin, who was told by the army that he was crazy going looking
for rocks in such a hostile Apache Indian area, the only rock he will
find there is his own tombstone. Eventually when he discovered silver in
the area in 1877, he named the mine Tombstone, The area around here was
actually known as Goose Flat, but as the town grew it changed it’s name
to Tombstone and for the first 4 years that the mine operated, it
pulled out between $40mil and $80mil (1-2 Billion $ in today’s market)of
silver. As the town grew, trouble started between a Rancher family and
the Law, The Marshal was killed when he tried to take a rifle from a
cowboy, by grabbing the barrel and pulling it towards himself, the
firearm went off.
Virgil
Earp was appointed in his place, he intern deputized his brothers
Morgan and Wyatt to help control the cowboys, after a series of
confrontations, it exploded in the “Gunfight at the OK Corral” where
three of the four cowboys were killed, Virgil and Morgan Earp were
wounded as was Doc Holliday, who had thrown his hat in to assist, from
all reports it was Doc Holiday that fired the first shot. Wyatt &
Doc were charged with murder and a month long court case followed before
they were acquitted and found to be doing their lawful duty.
We
did a tour of the mine, yes a day after saying we would not do another
cave, we were down a silver mine, checking it out. We visited the office
of the “Tombstone Epitaph”, where we were given a copy of the October
1881 edition which has the full court report of the trial.
The
Birdcage theatre, once a hot spot for gambling among other activities,
reportedly had one table with a poker game which ran non-stop for 8
years and 5 months.
A
lot of the bars and buildings still have the telltale marks of the era,
the Crystal Palace for example, has some 125 bullet holes in the walls
and ceiling
The
2pm re-enactment of the “Gunfight” was obviously the highlight for the
town each day. There were the 3 Earp brothers, Wyatt, Morgan and
Virgil, plus Doc Holiday all in their black gear plus the 4 cowboys and
3 women and another 2 gents, all in period clothing, parading around
town most of the day. Prior to the 2 and 4pm re-enactments there was
interaction on the main street between the actors, which seemed to lead
up to the gunfight. A Wells Fargo coach also conveys tourists around
the town area. Main St. (Allan St actually) is blocked off
permanently to through traffic. Only one movie was ever made in the
town, it has no appeal to the movie-makers because it has power lines
& bitumen throughout the town. It therefore does not portray an old
western town.
So,
the town now survives on tourism and you would have to say they do it
fairly well. We were there on a Monday so it’s not just a weekend job. See Photos
Boot Hill Cemetery
Boot
Hill the final resting place for the cowboys gunned down that day and
apparently a lot of other interesting characters, will be our last port
of call as we leave town and head to Benson, we are advised that the
original headstones which were made of wood have all been removed stored
away and replaced with metal ones, still with the original
inscriptions, apparently weather and tourists were taking their toll.
Well Boot Hill did have some interesting headstones, such as “Here lies
Lester Moore, 4 slugs from a 44 no Les no More”, another “John
Heath, taken from county Jail and LYNCHED by the Bisbee mob in Tombstone
Feb 22 1844” and “George Johnson, Hanged by mistake, He was right,
we was wrong, but we strung him up and George is gone.”.
We
moved on to Benson and sought the nearby, Mescal Film Studio, where the
later westerns have been made, it is in fact part of the Old Tucson
Studio, and was a closed set until 2004, when they stated allowing
visitors, but something must have happened in the ensuing 7 years,
because it is now “not open to the public” so our seeking it out was in
vain. See Photos
New Mexico
Away
again, East on highway 10 and eventually we left Arizona and entered
New Mexico, a quick stop to take some photos of Steins a ghost town, but
now on private property so did not get to have a close look but close
enough for some snaps. We set up camp at an RV Park in Deming and
quickly availed ourselves of the indoor pool that was nearby. See Photos
Texas
With
the intent of a short drive to El Paso we took until 9.30 to leave the
park, El Paso is a large, not very attractive, sprawling city of around
1 million, looks almost as big as Melbourne, but not very appealing, we
had no specific reason to call there and the look of it, just sent us
driving on through, There were several Border Patrol vehicles traveling
around as we are just above the Mexican Border, so we thought it best
not to free camp, instead we called in at an RV park in Van Horn for
the night.
Thursday
morning we drove through the main street of Van Horn before getting
back on the #10. In it’s day it must have been quite a town, the wide
main street was obviously the original highway right through the centre
of town, now that the highway has been shifted with it’s duplication to
run alongside the town, it seems that the town has almost died because
of it, so many businesses closed down and buildings in disrepair. Maybe
it will be the next ghost town in Texas. Kent was 37miles down the road
where we are to turn off, it turned out to be two buildings and the
remains of an old bluestone school house, again the freeway had passed
it by. The road south from here is known as the Texas Mountain Trail
(118). See Photos
McDonald Observatory.
Our
first stop along the way was at the McDonald Observatory, we just
arrived in time for a tour of the two main telescopes. The guide left
no stones unturned with his explanation of the system, demonstrating how
the telescope moves and lines up on it’s target, together with the
turning of the huge dome to line the opening up with the telescope.
There is no such thing as looking through a glass tube to see the
results, it is all transmitted to computers on a lower level of the
building. This telescope has a 110inch lens. We then were transported to
the newer telescope which has a 4 times larger lens and as such is the 5th
largest in the world. Scientists from around the world can apply to
book a session with the telescope, they do not even have to come on
site, their project will be recorded and sent to them over the internet,
there is basically no cost, as it is all born by the University of
Texas in the interest of science. After the tour we had a lecture on the
Stars and the Sun with current images of the sun being filtered and
displayed on a screen where you could watch the gaseous explosions
leaping from the surface of the sun. A fascinating study tour. See Photos
Fort Davis
We moved on to Fort Davis, much of which has been preserved by the National Parks Service.
The
fort housed over 400 soldiers and played a key role in the defence
system of West Texas from 1854 to 1891, in particular guarding the
transport corridor between San Antonio and El Paso some 600 miles. The
men spent more time building roads and telegraph lines than they did
chasing the Apache and Comanche raiders. See Photos
We
moved on to Alpine and settled in at the Lost Alaskan RV Site, a drive
through the town reveals a very substantial town, obviously well
supported by the Sul Ross State University with it’s many large and
impressive buildings. The town is also serviced by 24 different
churches.
We next head for the Big Bend National Park, which is about 100miles south of Alpine.
We
are told, of course that nothing is as big as Texas, however if you were
to combine both Texas and New Mexico, you would have an area as large
as South Australia.
The Rio Grande
We
were given advice by a fellow RVer to change our travel direction and
head to Presidio a small town on the Mexican border and the take the 170
route east along the Rio Grande to Terlingua and “keep your camera
ready”. Presidio was a nothing sort of town, but the drive along the 170
was magnificent, it is ranked in the top 6 drives in the USA,
accordingly we stopped and clicked and started, only to stop and click
some more, he warned me it would be a long drive and not because of the
mileage. See Photos
Big Bend National Park
Terlingua
is a hot and dusty small town just outside of the Big Bend National
Park. Previously the town’s history was one of Quicksilver Mining, but
now it depends on the tourist trade, catering for 4WD and River
tourism. We hooked up with a local tour operator Big Bend River Tours
and arranged to go on an escorted Canoe trip through the San Elena
Canyon on the Rio Grande River, which is the border between Mexico and
Texas. We were to paddle 3.5 miles upstream, walking the canoes up the
rapids, which were very mild, because of the time of year and the level
and flow of water in the river. However to the uninitiated canoeists
that we are, they were rapids. The canyon walls towered vertically 1500
to 2000 ft either side of the river, a truly awesome experience. We
lunched on a small bank before heading back down stream and this time of
course we had to negotiate the rapids, (the guide called them ripples),
after a few crashes into the canyon walls we managed to make it the 4
miles to the end without tipping the canoe ending up in the drink, we
had packed our cameras in the waterproof bags for the return trip, such
was our confidence. We slept solidly that night, pleased with our
achievement. He weather was stinking hot although a slightly cooler
breeze seemed to crop up around 4am. We got on the road early, but not
before Lorraine arranged for a couple of photos posed with the local Sheriff. This time we entered the National Park under our own steam
and headed for Rio Grande City, a camp area at the bottom of the park on
the Rio Grande, it was lush with trees and very well laid out with a
great number of camp sites, we were tempted but we had only travelled 50
miles, we took the road to the Boquillas Canyon Overlook, here we were
on a ridge overlooking the Rio Grande, there were displays of ware for
sale with price tags on them sitting on 4 or 5 large boulders, as we got
closer we noticed as young Mexican lad down by the river, across the
river in Mexico were a group of men with their horses. We decided to buy
a couple of the trinkets, shortly after another lad appeared, he had
waded across the river to collect the cash from the tin, they
reassembled their display and headed back to Mexico. Their township of
Boquillas del Carmen was spread out on the hill above the opposite
bank of the river. See Photos
We headed out of the park through Marathon, finally booking in at an RV Park in Sanderson.
The
area around here is very flat and very low scrub. The most interesting
feature was our counting the number of border patrol cars are constantly
slowly driving along a dirt road beside the highway on the Mexican
border side. Often they would be towing a group of 3 large tyres all
chained together, the driver seemed to be hanging out the drivers side
window studying the dusty road as if looking for tracks, it appeared the
tyres he was dragging would clear any marks from the roadway to show up
any later disturbance. It all looked like a waste of time.
This
area is apparently a popular deer hunting area from Nov – Jan each
year. A run over from the 1950s when Texas was very big into importing
exotic game into the state to set up hunting ranches, it seems that it
is now limited to Texas Pronghorn and other deer. Otherwise the town is
almost dead, A builder from California had taken on a contract to build a
new visitor centre for the town, we had noticed it on the way through
and wondered at it with the rest of the town falling down. Another hot
night, but at least the Air-con literally takes the heat off.
San Antonio and the Alamo
Next
day we targeted San Antonio, and whist it was still over the 100
degrees, at it was more comfortable driving with the auto air-con. We
crossed the Pecos River just before Del Rio, a huge bridge spanned the
Pecos canyon. An information plaque outlined how the Pecos was a major
stumbling block for the pioneers with the steep walled canyon and wide
river, even more of a problem for the Railways where they had to build
tunnels and bridges to get the line across. We stocked up with supplies
at Del Rio, set up for lunch at Amistad Reservoir only to be moved on by
the National Guard, because of a bomb threat, they had to clear the
area,. As we drove out there were army, police, Fire, even helicopters
overhead, so we got outa there quick. See Photos
As
we approached San Antonio the country side was changing a lot, Cotton
seems to be a major crop here, can’t quite understand it, as in
Australia the cotton is a very water dependant crop, doesn’t seem that
way here, maybe a different strain of cotton. Interesting to see the way
they create a huge bail of compressed cotton, put a tarp top on it and
leave it stand around the edge of the paddock, they seem to transport
the cotton without leaving the roadside looking like there has been an
explosion of cotton balls, such as I have noticed in Australia, but that
was a while ago, so they may have changed by now.
More and bigger trees and the towns we drive through seem to be busy.
San Antonio, the 3rd
largest city in Texas, a much more friendly town to the approach, we
set the Tom Tom for the KOA RV Park and it guided us through the maize
of freeways that skirt the city, First time we have seen a “City
Skyline” since Phoenix. The city has built it’s tourism on “The Alamo”
The event in 1836 when some 200 tried to defend the post, against the
2000 troops of the Mexican Dictator Santa Anna, Names like Davey
Crockett and Jim Bowie were to be among those who were lost in the
onslaught. It is very much along the lines of “The Eureka Stockade”,
only a lot more brutal. It became a rallying point for the Texans and
indeed Santa Anna was defeated some 11 weeks later and Texas gained it’s
independence from Mexico.
A
lot of the original Alamo buildings are still there, having been
preserved as a memorial site. A day sightseeing around the City and
surrounds, including a couple of the historic missions that still
operate in the area having been built in the late 1700s, The “River
Walk” looked a good thing but the legs were not up to it in the heat of
the day. An Imax film of “The Alamo” runs ever hour at the nearby
theatre, and provided an hour away from the heat. Again another
interesting, but hot day. We decided this was our opportunity to sample
the Mexican fare and we were directed to Mi Tierra Restaurant. Can’t
remember what we had but it was good, or maybe it was that margarita
that stops me from remembering. Worked it out, we tried Barbacoa and an
assorted Platter. See Photos
Houston
An
early start got us to Houston by 2 for a late lunch. If we thought the
Los Angeles Freeway system was complicated, by Houston standards they
are a walk in the park.
Houston,
incidentally was named after Sam Houston, the general who routed
Mexico’s Santa Anna in revenge for the Alamo slaughter, his action set
up the move to “The Republic of Texas” prior to them joining the United
States in 1845
At
50 miles out of town we started on the concrete freeways, the 2 lane
(each side) went to three, then four and by 30 miles out, we were into 5
lanes each way, a four or five layer freeway interchange has cars and
trucks going in all directions at various levels, then a toll road began
in the centre median of the freeway, this added another two lanes each
way. Cars appear to make a sudden dash to get across 5 lanes to get to
the toll way in the middle. I still haven’t worked out the legal way to
get in and out of the toll way lanes, don’t think I want to. We were
shunted off the freeway more times in the hour or so, we took trying to
follow the Tom Tom to our selected RV Park, than we ever have in LA.
Imagine the frustration when we found the RV park was no more. Back into
the system with another target RV park. I am sure the freeway systems
here are the cause for so much divorce, I cannot quite hear the voice on
the Tom Tom for the road and traffic noise, so I have to rely on
Lorraine reading the screen and relaying the directions on to me,
keeping one eye on the side mirror for traffic joining the freeway, the
other eye on the left mirror to see what is coming at me there, the
other eye on the lanes ahead to make sure I don’t get into an exit only
lane, the other eye on the other lanes to make sure I don’t get shunted
off onto another freeway or tollway.
We
now know where the term “Houston, We Have a Problem” came from, we
reckon the space shuttle was trying to find it’s way to the launch pad.
At one
stage Lorraine said “keep going straight up” I am looking out the front
and all I see is an off ramp which literally goes straight up in the
air in front of us. It wasn’t where we had to go but caused some angst
and confusion. I understand George W. Bush comes from here, maybe that
explains it all.
Eventually
we found our RV park, not the most exciting, but will do for the night.
The particular items we were to visit here, The Space Centre is on our
way to Galveston so we will not use the RV park as a home base, we will
catch up on things as we move out.
The
drive to the Space Centre had us on a freeway which took us past the
edge of the city of Houston at an elevation, the sun came out and it was
great for a few snaps, the freeways still intrigued us and we noted the
tollway was in the centre on the 5 lanes each way freeway, a concrete
barrier, kept them apart so there was no switching, the tollway had
flyover entry and exits, it was noticeable that it was only one way,
into the city, we presume it reversed in the afternoon. Another
interesting feature was a two, sometimes three lane, one way traffic
along side the freeway, Usually called Frontage Road, a sort of sanity
zone, which received traffic from the freeway and fed traffic on at
different intervals, so in all, with the three lane feeder each side,
five lane freeway each side and the two lane tollway in the middle,
that’s 18 lanes of traffic. On top of that some of the freeways have an
extra one or two lanes each way for, multiple passenger, taxis,
motorcycles & buses, that would make for 22 lanes wide. See Photos
Houston Space Centre
The
Space Centre was an eye opener, we were treated to tours of the
equipment, and exhibits of the actual space capsules that were used, two
Imax sized screens gave presentation films on the history of space
travel and it’s future direction. In a replica control room we were
given online images of the present control room and the details of a
current space craft which was above Australia as we watched. A “Tram
Tour” of the Johnson Space Centre, Gave us guided tour of the actual
Houston Control Room, which directed the operations during the space and
moon landings, of which there have been six, the last in 1972.
The
weather had turned to a deluge as we approached the Space Centre,
however after a full day in the centre, while outside they had 2 inches
of rain, we were back to a very steamy heat when we left.
See Photos
Galveston
We
continued to Galveston some 50 miles south of Houston, Galveston is on
an island that was not much more than 5 -6 ft above the sea level. There
is a beautiful 30 mile stretch of beach facing out to the Gulf of
Mexico. Obviously a favourite holiday spot for Texans, by the number of
large resort/hotels along the esplanade.
There
was a disaster here in 1900 when a hurricane swept across the island,
and only buildings were above the water, at that time there was no
island. Some 6000 perished in what was the worst disaster in US history.
To rebuild the city, they built a 15ft high concrete seawall then
proceeded to pump in sand behind the seawall to raise the ground level
up by 15ft. It took 6 years to complete and a following hurricane, as
strong as the 1900 one, resulted in little damage and only 6 lives
lost. Prior to the settlement on the island, in 1820s it was the home
base for a local Pirate, Laffette, who plundered the Spanish ships,
returning with their gold from Mexico.
Today, Galveston is a major supply port for the oil rigs in the Gulf as well as a repair centre for the rigs themselves
For the first time in our three weeks here, we were able to sit outside in relative comfort.
A
harbour cruise spotting dolphins and learning the history of the area,
then we boarded the ferry to cross to the Bolivar Peninsular, The
housing here in Crystal Beach is being built on huge 6” x 6“ timber
pillars and very high off the ground (12’ to 16’), a lot of new work in
progress and quite a few dump bins full of building rubbish, we were to
find that this area was flattened by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and they are
just getting things back together, talking to some, they say they were
lucky to come out of it alive, lost everything. I cannot imagine that
building a house higher is going to save it in a hurricane, maybe keep
your feet dry until it blows away. You look at this flat, treeless
peninsular and say why would you bother, there has to be safer places to
live.
However
talking to the locals, “We love the Peninsular” is their response. We
are camped on Crystal Canal an offshoot of the “Inter-coastal Waterway”
which is a man made canal, it extends about 360 miles from Galveston bay
to the Mississippi River at New Orleans, in parts it is 3o miles in
from the coast, it is a major shipping route for the transporting of
materials. The section we are on, Crystal Canal is peppered all along
one side with rather expensive holiday houses and the other side the RV
Park, each of the houses and many of the RV sites, have a covered boat
shelter, with a hoist. The boat is driven in over two webbing slings, it
is then raised, out of the water by 3 -4 ft.
The
house directly opposite us is on the corner of the canal, it is owned
by two doctors who are here maybe twice a year, it looks like no expense
was spared.
Driving
out the next day we were aware of the obvious damage caused by Ike in
2008, many sites are just a concrete pad on the site, some just the
stumps are remaining, some buildings just boarded up to keep out
intruders, but an awful lot of rebuilding has been done.
We
continued along the coast, we left Texas and went into Louisiana at
Sabine, Cameron seemed to be the site of a Tornado in the not too
distant past, again, there are just concrete pads where houses once
stood.
Brought back to mind the devastation we had in Australia with the fires and the floods,
The
coastline of Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico was completely littered
with rubbish, for miles, plastic bottles and packaging, but a lot of
bits of clothing etc seems a long time back 2008 for it to be still
there from that, but who knows. See Photos
New Orleans.
We
completed the run into New Orleans on Sunday and after a good look
around the wrong side of the city, we realized that we had put the wrong
address into Tom Tom, so we headed back to the other side of town to
the KOA. RV park. Our first day and we took the shuttle into the French
Quarter to have look around, some remarkable old buildings, many pre
Civil War. The intricate lace work and out back courtyards are
distinctive features of the area, This section of the city was not badly
flooded by Katrina, which was actually 6 years ago today. See Photos
Apparently
there are few areas that were virtually abandoned after Katrina. You can
buy a house there for $7000. But apart from that, the city is all go go
go. The Mississippi River varies between a half to one mile wide in the
city area and it’s depth is around 200ft, we are 110 river miles from
the coast at New Orleans and by the size of the shipping that goes up
and down you would think it was an ocean port. In fact the locals claim
it to be the largest port in USA, for annual tonnage passed through,
ahead of New York. Main cargo shipped from New Orleans are crops, barged
down from northern states and steel. The banks of the river are all
levied with huge earthen mounds along both sides, Then in the city area,
there are concrete flood walls with great solid steel gates on rollers
and rubber seals these are closed when there is a danger. We were told
that part of the problem with the Katrina disaster was that the gates
were closed ok, but water got in behind them from an unanticipated
source and the gates would not let it out. Of course another apart of
the problem was evident when we were driven through one section and were
told that “This is the lowest part of New Orleans, it is 14 ft below
sea level” So the city is literally living on the edge. We joined a
tour of Oak Alley Plantation, which took us through the stately old
mansion with it’s 300 year old oak trees lining the driveway. Still a
working sugar plantation, which is the main crop in Southern Louisiana,
while Cotton is the crop of the north of the state. See Photos
The
city is ringed by swamps, it is amazing how they have built their
freeways, they can go for miles built like a bridge over swamp land one
to two feet deep.
Our
day off, tweeking the RV with a few minor repairs and adjustments, gave
us the break we both needed. A tour of the Swamp & Bayous with
Cajun Tours had us drifting through the swamp on a flat bottom barge
looking for wildlife, the main attraction of course is the alligators,
they seemed to be familiar with the operator and responded to his calls,
you could see them swimming through the weed towards the boat. The
chicken pieces were the attraction for the alligators, who would jump up
2 to 3 ft to snatch the food, a couple of families of raccoons also
knew the boat would throw a supply of marshmallows towards them, the
trees in the bayou were predominantly bald cypress, the official state
tree, which were often adorned by Spanish Moss, draping down, giving
them the eerie, swamp atmosphere, The Spanish Moss is an air plant and
has no detrimental effect on the cypress. See Photos
A
day trip to the mouth (delta) of the Mississippi River gave a insight
into the trauma that the area goes through on a regular basis, Katrina
was of course a major destroyer of property in 2005 but there have been
others before and since, which have left broken houses, some, just
concrete pads left, perhaps with a chimney, others the stilts which
formed the supports for the house are there, but without the house on
top. The most popular form of replacement house seems to be the portable
type. Most still have the wheels under them even though they have been
set on stumps and raised a bit from the ground. So much looks so
temporary. There are also many fine new houses on the peninsular, it is
easy to wonder why people subject themselves to such constant pressure.
Then come the heli-port airfields, think there were 3. They are
shuttling staff to and fro from the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico,
further on, as we got to the end of the road, there were several marinas
for the fishing fleet. We stumbled in to one of them and noticed a
group of men around a large semi trailer, on closer check we noted that
they had 2 piles of dead alligators, a ute nearby had another 10 or so
in it, a small boat tied up also had 6 or 7 on the floor. The culling
season had just started, this was the 1st September, and the
season goes for the whole month. Each of the catch was being measured
for length and the numbered tag on the alligators tail was recorded, as
they were loaded into the ice in the semi. The government issues tags so
that a controlled number of alligators are harvested each year. They
are worth $25/ft if they are over 9ft in length and $15 - $20/ft for
those smaller than 9ft. So an average of $200 each for the fisherman.
The
only signs that we noticed of the recent oil spill from the BP rig, is a
few signs out along the highway, claiming they were not compensated
enough or that their claim had been rejected.
On
the way back to New Orleans we called at Fort Jackson, built in 1822 to
ward off the Spaniards from aggression against New Orleans 80 miles
further upstream.
The
freeway back through the city was at a snails pace, the reason, 12
lanes of traffic converged on the toll booths but after the toll booth,
the freeway reduced to 4 lanes in a half mile, to go over the bridge.
We
took the Ponchartrain Causeway when we left New Orleans, an amazing
structure, two separate bridges across Lake Ponchartrain one for each
direction, each with 2 lanes of traffic, it is claimed to be the longest
bridge in the world. 24miles from shore to shore, as straight as a die,
with three raised sections for medium boats to pass under and one
drawbridge section to facilitate the larger vessels, can’t be too big
though as the lake is pretty shallow all over. We struck a storm as we
crossed, could not get a photo of the drawbridge for the rain, could
hardly see out of the windscreen. See Photos
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana was only 100 miles from New Orleans so it was an easy day.
News
came that Tropical Storm “Lee” was building just south of New Orleans
and looked like being a threat. It had started as we left New Orleans
and we were in it over the following three days, Jackson had had 10” of
rain by the 3rd day, it came in squalls as the winds in the storm reached 50 to 60 mph.
Baton
Rouge, the capital of the state, it was 10am Saturday of a holiday
weekend and raining, when we drove in to town, hardly saw a car, we
wanted to see the Old Capital Building, built in the 1850s in the style
of an European castle, the 1,575 ft long cast iron fence was of
particular interest to me, the panels and posts were cast in 1855 and
are a treasure of the skill of the patternmakers and foundrymen of the
time, the panels were designed to follow the contour of the land and
included fleur de leis on each picket, pineapples on each post and a
pair of massive eagles and tomahawks on the main gate posts.
Unfortunately, the rain only permitted a moderate amount of photography
and I was completely soaked on return to the van. The building is listed
as being open to the public on Saturdays, however, I was informed that
they were closing, seemed a bit early at 11am but who am I to argue. As
the rest of the city seemed to have closed as well, we drove on. See Photos
Natchez
Our
GPS took us the long way round, a straight line to Natchez is about 80
miles, however we ended up on the I10 back to Lafayette taking us 220
miles to get there. By the time we realized what was happening we were
on the Atchafalaya swamp Bridge, 18.2 miles with no way out, so we bit
the bullet and kept going, it was an interesting drive though. The rain
persisted all the way to Natchez, where we found an RV park on the banks
of the Mississippi, albeit 40 -50ft high on the top of the levee.
We
managed to get a few short clear periods, which allowed us to walk
around Natchez, a historic port on the Mississippi River 330 miles from
the gulf, at that point the river is still over ½ mile wide. Natchez has
probably the largest number of 1790 – 1850 period houses that are still
maintained, lived in and available to visit. It reflects the past
opulence of the time when cotton was king and the work force were mainly
slaves.
Interestingly
many of the wealthy builders of the mansions in the area were from the
northern states, they had their crops growing in the north and shipped
it down the Mississippi to be treated and dispatched from Natchez.
We
found reference to the “Natchez Trace” a 445mile track which follows
the path of earlier Indians, hunters, traders, soldiers from Nashville,
Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. The National Parks have taken it over
and re dressed it as an historical track. Travelers are invited to
follow the Trace, where the items of interest and historical importance
are clearly marked. We traveled the first 85 miles to Jackson, where we
moved off to have a look around and stay the night.
We chose to resume our original route and headed for Vicksburg.
Again we are on the banks of the Mississippi See Photos
The Civil War.
The
Civil war is still very much a part of the history in the area. The war
started when Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, arguing
that the America’s nearly 4 million slaves should be freed.
We find that Vicksburg is still reeling from the 43 day siege of Vicksburg by General Grant, ending on July 4th 1863, this was the day after the battle of Gettysburg when General Lee was defeated on July 3rd 1863 and both were to be seen as major turning points of the Civil War, although it was not to conclude until April 9th 1865. Five days later John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln.
For 80 years after the war Vicksburg would not celebrate 4th
July as “Independence Day” (which celebrates the 1776 independence from
England). because it coincided with the date of the siege.
Crossing
the Mississippi River again and back into Louisiana on to Lake
Providence where the State of Louisiana has it’s official Cotton Museum,
but alas it only opens Thurs to Sat, being Tuesday we continued on,
entering into Arkansas for 50 miles, before crossing the river again at
Greenville, taking us back into Mississippi again and on to Clarksdale.
Clarksdale.
Clarksdale
is the base for the Delta Blues Museum and the site of Ground Zero
Blues Club, part owned by local, Morgan Freeman, not forgetting one of
it’s former sons, Justin Adkins (now an Aussie).
The
museum is under a massive building upgrade, with the extension being
made to expand the “Muddy Waters” heritage in the area of the Delta
Blues.
The local Fairground acts as an RV park so we hooked up there.
Lunch at Abe’s Diner, a Clarksdale institution since the 1930s and we were off to Memphis. See Photos
Memphis
The Gracelands RV Park next door to the Heartbreak Hotel and the ‘Elvis’ empire was a good choice.
A
shuttle to “Beale St.” for a night on the town, which was a great
experience, Wednesday is “Bikies Night” in Beale St. Plenty of police
around but all was uneventful, apart from the music, it made for an
interesting spectacle, all shapes and sizes of motor bikes Harleys of
course, but a heap of others as well. The Gracelands tour was a must,
and a surprise, we both expected a lot more opulence, but it really was
just a family home, a mansion by 1960s standards, which he bought for
$100,000 at the age of 21. It gave us a different view of the guy. The
house has all his awards and clothes displayed, making it quite a
museum, back over the road is his two private Jets and a museum with his
cars, Four hours and very interesting, Lots of opportunity to buy
stuff at the many “Gift Shops” surprise, surprise. See Photos
Another shuttle and
we were at the “Sun Studios” in Memphis where Elvis got his start and
many other greats did their recordings, Johnny Cash, B.B.King &
Jerry Lee Lewis were just a few, that was also very interesting . A
tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory was planned, They have three
factories, Nashville being the head office and where they make the
mandolins and the like, This one at Memphis specializes in the electric
guitars, and the third is in Wyoming where they do the acoustic guitars,
located there because of the proximity to the supply of suitable
timbers.
Memphis
is the newest factory and the tour was quite an eye opener with the
detail they go to in producing the best (they claim) I suppose Fender
would disagree. Memphis the city is very attractive a tree lined Main
St mall closed to all traffic except the trolleys (trams) slow, noisy,
& cheap. Set on the Mississippi River and arrangements are in hand
to start 7 day Riverboat cruises south to New Orleans and also north to
St Louis, new docks are being built for the program. See Photos
Jackson
The
Music Highway (I 40) runs between Memphis, Jackson and on to
Nashville. We stopped off in Jackson and took in the Casey Jones Legend,
he actually was a real guy who rammed his loco into the caboose at the
tail end of a stationary train in 1900, he was classed a hero as he took
such actions as he was the only one killed. See Photos
Nashville
Nashville
and the Grand Ole Opry, the home of “Country Music”, we checked into
the KOA, the most expensive park we have had at $56 per night, a park
just down from here seems to be $30. In picking up tickets to the
Saturday performance we signed up for a backstage tour, so we were able
to strut our stuff on the stage (to an empty house of course). The whole
area around Nashville was under water in a freak flood caused by 24
inches of rain over 2 days in May 2010. The Opry had 4ft of water over
the stage, a massive repair effort got the place back and operating in
six months. A whole shopping complex including the Imax is still closed.
The river rose 30 ft to the top of the bank then went on to flood the
city. We lunched at the Hard Rock Café which had undergone a $10m
rebuild after the flood.
Our
attendance at the Grand Ole Opry was quite an experience. It is and
always has been, a “live Radio Show” on 7pm Tuesday, Friday and Saturday
nights each week, so you have the radio commercials in between the
performances. There weren’t any known (to us) artists on, but it was a
good night.
The
Country Music Hall of Fame, another icon of the Nashville music scene
and the associated tour of RCA Studio “B”, the studio where Elvis
transferred to when he left Sun Studios and where he made most of his
recordings, along with a host of other legends of the music world, The
studio still operates today and is in the heart of the strip called
“Music Row” where all the music businesses are located. It is claimed
that Music Row is to music, as Wall St. is to Finance.
The
General Jackson Showboat operates on the Cumberland River here at
Nashville, The Showboat, with a rear paddle drive has a huge ballroom
and stage in its centre, seating some 700 for a well presented meal and
excellent Country & Western Show, as the boat paddled through the
city. A great finale to our stay in Nashville. See Photos
Before leaving Nashville our final stop was to visit ‘The Hermitage’ the preserved home of Andrew Jackson the 6th
President of the USA. Jackson, born of Irish parents was a hero
General in the war of independence against England, proving that the
American Militia could win battles against the might of the British
troops. The Hermitage was his Tennessee farm, growing cotton, corn and
sorghum as well as a substantial orchard. Jackson is ranked as the 3rd most wealthy President, however five years after his death, his son had blown the lot.
We
moved East to Chattanooga, still in Tennessee, but only just, being
near the border of Georgia, in fact we crossed into Georgia and back
into Tennessee before reaching Chattanooga.
Chattanooga
Chattanooga,
about the size of Ballarat, with hills all around and one large
mountain on the edge of the city called Lookout Mountain. We found a
campsite at Raccoon Mountain RV Park, a nice quiet spot for a 3 night
stay for some R & R, there was of course Lookout Mountain waiting
to be explored, there were four features there on the mountain, Ruby
Falls, a spectacular underground waterfall that plummets 150 ft into a
pool, all happening 1120 ft underground, of course there is the cave
walk in before you reach the falls, Then an Incline Railway which they
claim has the steepest incline tracks in the world. This area was
steeped in the history books with the Civil War, The mountain was
considered the key to the area. One residence on the mountain was host
to the command of both armies on the same day, as the fortunes changed.
One of the problems they had defending the mountain was that when they
pointed the cannon down at the approaching troops the cannonball would
roll out of the cannon.
Yes,
it is a history book, when you consider that the civil war was 10 years
after our Ned Kelly and the Eureka Stockade was about the same time.
We
were at a site, where it was claimed that the "Battles for
Chattanooga" where the fiercest battles were fought and changed the
outcome of the civil war. The two battles in the area, Chickamauga, then
Chattanooga, had 47,000 casualties, 5000 of those were killed over 2
days in September and then 2 days in November 1863. Further along the
mountain was “Rock City” a walk-through garden which was interwoven with
paths between, around, under and over huge boulders. An incredible
amount of work had been put in over the years to transform an almost
worthless piece of real estate into a spectacular facility, the views
out over the valley, where at one point you can see 7 different states
of the USA, the flora and the woven rock pathways being the features.
We had another cave on our doorstep at the Raccoon Mountain campground, this was also well worth the visit.
We
moved south from Chattanooga, into Alabama, called in at the Natural
Bridge, 148ft long and 60ft high over the forest, hosts Jim and Barbara
made us most welcome. See Photos
Tupelo
It was then on into Mississippi, where we called
at Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis, The small white weatherboard
(shotgun) house is all well preserved and quite a feature of the town.
Of course, it is on Elvis Presley Boulevard,.
South
again towards the Gulf of Mexico, but a welcome stop at Lake Lowndes
State Park in Columbia for the night. There we met up with an
Australian couple, from Qld, who are into the 6th month of an 8 month tour around USA in their new Hurricane “A” Class RV See Photos
Gulfport
We
came back onto the coast at Gulfport Alabama, (which is about 150 miles
East of New Orleans) we came around the beaches through Biloxi to
Mobile, an interesting drive, white very fine sand and wide beaches,
lots of beach gear for hire from vendors along the beach, including Jet
Skis. Casinos and some rather lavish houses along the way. A great park
to visit was the Battleship Park just at Mobile. On display are the
battleship USS Alabama and the submarine USS Mobile. Gulfport was
almost wiped out with Hurricane Katrina 5 years ago $5.5 billion damage
to Gulfport alone. The have done great job rebuilding it with all the
new infrastructure that was needed. See Photos
Florida Panhandle
As
we drove along the coast road from Pensacola Beach, it is noticeable
just how many of the homes are new. Lots of trees show regrowth after
being stripped bare by the storm. We noted that all looked new on the
island and there were no empty allotments with the old bases left
standing. We later found that it was a bit of a sore point with many
locals, Apparently a government subsidy on storm insurance works well
for those who have afforded a holiday home on the Island, If it gets
blown away as they nearly all did with Hurricane Ivan in 2003, they get
their houses rebuilt. The island acts as a buffer for the mainland and
whilst the winds might do some damage, the surging waves are stopped by
the island , so it cops the brunt of them all. The local view is “why on
earth would you want to build there”
Apparently
after Ivan there was a house sat in the middle of the bay between the
island and the mainland, picked up and dumped there by the hurricane,
quite a tourist attraction for some time after. It must be a Florida
state government subsidy as there was no such help down near Galveston,
Texas
On
leaving Navarre, we followed the coast road (98) which took us through
town after town of glitz, hotels, casinos and condominiums built almost
on the waters edge, alongside those, were many closed businesses, empty
houses and apartments, Panama City seemed to be the hub for the touristy
bits, very Surfer’ Paradise. On to Tallahassee and from there a
straight run across on the I-10 to Jacksonville on the Atlantic East
Coast. It seems to say something, when you notice an abundance of shops
offering “Payday Loans”, Title Loans”, Car Title Loans”, Pawn Shops,
Pawn & Gun Shops, probably the same thing, however some emphasize
the gun factor.
Interesting
also to see billboard adverts for hospitals, one comes to mind where a
picture of a patient who has had a triple bypass at this hospital and is
living proof of their expertise.
Car
dealers advertise “no interest” loans, they imply that a bad credit
history doesn’t matter, however I am told that that is only a gimmick
and does not really apply. See Photos
Florida’s East Coast.
We
took the coast road South from Jacksonville and it was about 45miles
before we actually saw the Atlantic Ocean. The paying customers all had
their houses, condominiums, resorts etc taking up the beach fronts,
Some were crass, some ok and some “wow”, a lot of manicured nature
strips and front gardens, The drive was marred by light rain and a bit
of thunder every now and then, but that is the season over here, they
expect 30 mins of rain each day. We picked an RV park close to the
Daytona International Raceway.
Daytona International Raceway
The
Raceway have organized tours of the facility, which took about 2 ½
hours and was a great experience, It is possible to arrange a three lap
circuit of the track as a passenger in a race car at around 160mph and
at a cost of $145, they claim it will be the fastest $145 you will ever
spend.
From
Daytona Beach we headed South to the Kennedy Space Centre, we gave the
tours a miss as a lot of it was a duplication of what we had seen in
Houston, but viewing the launch site was interesting. 50 miles west and
we were in Orlando for another R & R this time a week in a Sheraton
Resort a bit of luxury after 7 weeks on the road. See Photos
11
hours of the Epcot Center on Monday required a day off to recover ,
took in a dinner extravaganza show called “Medieval Times” it was well
done horses, jousting, knights in armour and all that. Then, back to
see Mickey at Disneyland for another 6 hours. The Disney World complex
is huge, traveling in on the shuttle today, as we passed the entrance
there was a sign directing us a further 5 miles to the car park and
ticket centre, from there you get either a monorail or Paddle Boat to
the particular park of your choice and they are at least a couple of
miles from the bus drop off. There are 7 car trams that shuttle those
who have parked their car for $14, over to the ticket booths.
Had
an interesting experience on our last day at the park. We booked a taxi
to take us to Disneyworld. At the entrance, the attendant wanted a $14
parking fee, either pay it or be turned around, both the driver and us
refused to pay and the driver was turned around, however, he drove back
the wrong way up an exit lane, through a transport maintenance depot and
eventually dropped us at a Disney Hotel where we caught the monorail to
the park. We had been delayed at the pay booth for some time, we found
the tour operator’s vehicle in front of us had the same problem and was
refusing to pay, don’t know how they got on.
There
is an RV Park in the Disneyworld complex called Fort Wilderness Resort
and we noted that one of the boats from the main gate called there, so
it certainly would be a good option and is $61 to $76 per night with no
transport worries. Buses are available for continuous transport between
the camp and all the Disney parks.
After
leaving Orlando we called at Lazydays RV World in Tampa, They are the
largest single RV sales/Service organization in the world. Covering 145
acres, with 200 service bays, there are literally hundreds of RV of all
sizes, brands and prices, both new and used. We spoke with a salesman
to get some further details on buying and registering an RV in Florida
for a non US citizen. See Photos
Florida’s West Coast.
Clearwater,
about 10 miles west of Tampa, is reached by a series of man made
causeways, there are bays, bridges of all types and sizes as we traveled
south along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida. Some of the causeways
are miles long, linking a series of islands to make them part of the
mainland.
Sarasota
We
settled in Sarasota for a couple of nights while we explored the
Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey circus history which began here in
Sarasota in the early 1900s, John & Mable Ringling set up in
Sarasota and after 15 years using the area as a Winter retreat, they
began to build a rather sumptuous mansion, It was completed in two years
and has all the latest innovations of the 1920s installed, Electric
Refrigerator, Electric stove, the first residential installation of an
Otis Lift,
John
had made his fortune in Oil, Ranching and Land development, so the
Circus was more of a passion and an excuse to tour the world, seeking
acts for the circus and buy art treasures from all over and ship them
home. John recognized the tourism potential of the Sarasota area and
went about buying up the land on both the mainland and the keys,
eventually owning some 2/3 of the area.
Having
no family they bequeathed the mansion, the collection of Circus
memorabilia, and their collection of art to the State of Florida in
1936. The museum has the largest collection of 15th century
paintings by Rubens. The whole estate was a joy to visit apart from the
extra time on our feet and not yet having recovered from Disneyworld. See Photos
The
West Coast of Florida is a real playground, it seems to be protected
from the Hurricanes, which are usually generated off the African Coast
and build up as they cross the Atlantic and or the Caribbean. It seems
that the weather stations are always paranoid about following the
direction of each of them and at this time of year there appears to be
an endless stream. Most do a left turn and travel north up the Atlantic,
but they are always on the lookout for the loose canon that will hit
the US coast.
There
is a string of Islands on the East Coast which goes 240 miles from Palm
Beach right down through Miami and then forms the 160 miles of the
Florida Keys. On the West Coast of Florida there are islands or Keys as
they are known here they start at Palm Harbor and go down about 150
miles to Naples. The waterways between these islands form a playground
for the boating people, many of the homes are built backing onto canals
connecting these waterways. The islands or Keys form a barrier against
the varying ocean conditions, Many boats to 20 ft long are stored by
lifting them out of the water and suspending the boat in a sling. As we
crossed a bridge at Nokomis on the west coast we noted two large
buildings by the side of the canal, a sign advertised “Boat Racks for
Hire” on looking into the buildings we could see that there were boat
racks on both sides, storing boats 4 high for the entire length of the
buildings.
Speaking
of signs we noticed another Hospital advertisement (on a full size bill
board) “Our average waiting time is 7 minutes”. Don’t think there would
be a market for those signs in Australia.
As
affluent as the area seems with all its resorts and gated complexes,
you can’t help but notice the number of business that have closed, just
boarded up and the car parks empty, not just small business, some quite
large supermarket sized properties.
Driving
on through Naples one is confronted with Vanderbilt Avenue and a hotel
labeled Ritz- Carlton, doesn’t give one the impression that we are in
the cheap seats area. Then there are the gated Country Clubs as well as
public golf courses that come right up to the edge of the highway, no
fence, we have to assume that they are all good golfers as there is no
protection for motorists against the wayward golf ball. The Tamiami
Trail is the label put on the #41 which goes from Tampa to Miami. See Photos
The Everglades
After
Naples it gets into the area just above the Everglades National park,
it is still tagged as the Everglades and a lot of it is swampy, with
tour operators offering Air Boat Rides at regular intervals along the
road. Another interesting road sign was warning about Panthers crossing
the road. We later find that they estimate there to be about 9 panthers
left in the north of the everglades, where there is still some dry land.
Having heard good reports on the Miccosukee Indians, their village and
air boat rides. We decided to hang out until we found them. It was well
worth it, the guides were great and value for money with the ride,
skimming across the swamps and through the grasses and reeds. See Photos
Miami
We
settled in at the Everglades RV Park, 24miles SW of Miami for a couple
of nights, arranged a city tour and a boat cruise on Biscayne Bay for
the following day. It took 2 hours to do the 24 miles in and again
afterwards to get home again. We felt we saw what we wanted in Miami,
it is a huge city with enormous skyscrapers. The City Tour was a hard
seated tram look-a-like, which covered the Art Deco hotels on the beach
front, complete with “Bogey” sitting in his car outside the hotel used
in the film“Casablanca”, then back to the main city area, it was a good
look at the city. The boat cruise went around the islands in Biscayne
Bay and they pointed out the luxurious homes belonging to the present
and or past celebrities, boy there is some money tied up there, in boats
as well as the houses. Islands, bridges, and more bridges to get the
traffic around. See Photos
The Everglades National Park
The
Everglades National Park is an amazing place, it covers thousands of
square miles and the highest point of land within the park is 8 ft above
sea level, just after entering the park we had to go through “Rock Reef
Pass – Elevation 3 Feet” The whole area is a sea of water slowly moving
southward from Lake Cheechobee which is 80 miles north of Miami, as the
water moves slowly south sediment is trapped by grasses and small
islands have formed over the years. They are called Hammocks and are
usually shaped like a tadpole with the large end always to the north and
are dotted over the grassy plains. Flamingo visitor centre is about 35
miles in from the park entrance and on the coast of Florida Bay. It was
named Flamingo after flocks of the birds that were seen there in 1890s,
but they do not frequent the area very often now. A few dugong were
seen in the marina, We were advised to call at Royal Palm a viewing
point near the entrance on our way out.
Here
we came close to many of the birds we had been seeing throughout the
park, they seemed tom pose for the camera here, as well we were
confronted by a fairly large alligator, a large turtle and a Gator Gar
Fish. See Photos
The Florida Keys
Key
Largo is the first of the many islands or keys that make up the
“Florida Keys”, we stayed there overnight at the John Pennekamp State
Park, This park is set up for the boating fraternity, You can drive your
boat up and moor for the night, hook up to power, refuel etc. If you
forgot your boat you can hire a 20 ft one for $245 per day or a 30 ft
one for $340 per day, They have glass bottomed boats taking park guests
out over the coral reef.
Key West
is the last of the Keys and is 100 miles from Key Largo. It was very
noticeable the further down the keys the dearer petrol became $3.35 per
gal at Key Largo and $3.79 at Key West other items prices rose
accordingly. RV park prices were over the top, the State Parks were $42
per night, while the private parks ranged from $65 to $120 per night.
That’s what you get when there is a captive audience.
The
drive down through the keys was interesting, I suppose the area could
be best likened to a 100 mile stretch of the Great Barrier Reef with a
string of fifty or more islands and road linking about twenty of the
main ones with bridges and causeways. Between the 50 or so larger
islands, there are many more little outcrops of mangrove etc. The
longest bridge in the series is seven miles long. There were several
places where the old railway bridge had been left to rot away alongside
the concrete highway, The railway to Key West was built by John Flagler
and has been long since abandoned.
Before
settling in to an RV Park at Key West we drove around the island,
negotiating the very narrow streets rather tenderly. Saw the house where
Ernest Hemmingway lived. There were signs all around threatening if
one was to dare park an RV on the side of the road it would be towed
away. Sunset at Mallory Square is a must do on Key West, we thought it
was just the novelty of watching the sunset from the Southern most point
of the USA, but no, it is a full on event with street entertainers,
buskers, musicians, cafes, stalls, and of course the bars, (away from
the square), the whole town comes alive for it. Yachts, loaded with
revelers sail past the dock, noted one with a pirate hanging on to the
rigging . We had managed to catch a bus from outside the RV park, I had
asked where we could park the RV when we went to Mallory Square and
were told that RVs are banned its Taxi or a bus.
We
called at the marker for the Southernmost point of USA for the
obligatory photo. After the event we caught the last bus for the night
,8.45pm. Taxis must do a roaring business later on.
Our
RV site was backed right up to the waters edge, with the ocean lapping
only 12 inches below the park grounds, I am sure the site fee included
an insurance premium, to cover the site against storm damage.
We
moved 5o miles north up the Keys and secured a site at another State
Park, the Curry Hammock S.P.. And settled in for a couple of nights, the
weather had broken and a bit of rain but still high humidity. A
beautiful sandy beach , so flat you could fish for flounder, and we are
on the Atlantic Ocean, not a wave. A couple of nights with calm waters
and beautiful sunsets, just the way to close our RV part of the trip.
We called back at John Pennekamp SP at Key Largo and booked in for the
Glass Bottom Boat cruise. We were taken 6miles off shore to the Coral
Reef and viewed the fish and coral through the glass panels in the
bottom of the boat. It was a nice trip and they did have the decency to
rate this Atlantic Coral Reef below the Great Barrier Reef , and we
have to say it was not a patch on the Barrier Reef, for coral colour and
fish size, I don’t think we saw a fish that would have been too large
for a home aquarium.
Our
trip in the RV has ended in Fort Lauderdale at Kozy Kampers RV Park
(well recommended), where we will leave the RV in storage for the next
family member to pick it up and do their thing on the East Coast of USA.
So a couple of days to clean up and pack things away before we board
the Celebrity “Infinity” for the 15 day cruise back to San Diego then
fly home from Los Angeles. See Photos
We
have traveled 7200 miles (12000kms) an average of 110 per day, of the
69 nights we had 1 National Park, 5 State Parks 2 Free Camping, 7 in a
Resort and 54 in RV Parks
The average cost of parks (without the resort) was $32 and the average cost of fuel & Camp cost $75 per day.
